WASHINGTON -
Twice in the last week, someone has tried to rob a bank by cutting a hole in a wall from an adjoining business. It happened a week ago at a Bank of America on Connecticut Avenue and again this Friday morning at an M&T Bank on Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown.
The FBI released these images of a man in a white hazmat suit wearing a blue baseball cap using tools to cut through a wall in order to get to the automatic teller machine inside.
It was around 2 a.m. when police got the call for an alarm at the bank. 12 hours later, investigators were still processing the crime scene. At one point, they called in the fire department to make sure the building was still structurally sound.
Just last Friday around the same time, police found a similar crime scene at the Bank of America in the 2600 block of Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C. In this video released by the FBI, the man appears to be wearing the same suit, with a mask and gloves and the hood pulled over his head. At one point, he was standing on something to get access to a fixture on the wall.
"These are brazen break-ins and to do it twice within one week here in the District, that's why together with the Metropolitan Police, we are asking for the public's help in helping us solve this," said Jacqueline Maguire of the FBI.
A little over a year ago on May 24, someone tried to pull the same caper at the same Connecticut Avenue bank in the exact same way. In the video, the man is not wearing a mask, gloves or even that white hazmat suit.
"I think we would ask the public for any information, whether they know of people talking about these crimes or they have seen any suspicious activity over the past weeks at both the Bank of America location or the M&T Bank location. People who would know of the vacant properties adjacent to the banks," said Maguire.
At the Bank of America on Connecticut Avenue, both of the attempts failed. The suspect opened the wall, but couldn't open the ATM.
